The Surprise
by millstone1005
Summary: [One shot] Seth has a surprise for Ryan.


**Title:** The Surprise

**Description:** Seth has a surprise for Ryan.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to The O.C.. Not for profit.

**Author's Note:** I was looking at the words for The O.C. Season Three Advent challenge over at LJ and this story just came to me and wouldn't leave my head until I wrote it down. And so here it is.

* * *

Ryan was lying on his bed on a Saturday afternoon, just relaxing and reading a book. Seth was out, so the house was quiet and peaceful, for a change. And Ryan was hell-bent on enjoying every minute of it. At the end of a chapter, Ryan put the book down. He stretched out his arms and legs and massaged his hand that had been holding the book. It was a little tired and sore and cramped up from holding the book in that one position for so long.

Then Ryan looked around. He was surprised at how late it was getting. He had really gotten caught up in the book and had lost all track of time. The shadows in the pool house were already lengthening as the sun dipped low on the horizon. Ryan got up from the bed, stretched some more, and then paused for a moment. The view out of the windows had caught his eye. Looking out over the ocean, he could see the setting sun, with the beautiful colors that it caused in the few rain clouds that were still around from the showers that they had had earlier in the day.

Ryan sighed. The view from here was really beautiful. He could see why people would spend millions of dollars to buy a house with an ocean view. Ryan smiled to himself as he turned on the light next to the bed, then headed for the bathroom. He hoped he would never have to leave this place.

While in the bathroom, Ryan heard noises coming from the pool house. Strange, suspicious noises. He hurried to finish, nearly catching his danglies on his zipper in his haste. Ouch. After he got himself all tucked away safely, he rushed out of the bathroom to see what was going on. Was it a stray dog? Was it a burglar?

No, it was just Seth, having returned from his mysterious errand. Ryan shut the bathroom door and then stood there, with his arms crossed, and watched Seth with some amusement. It looked like Seth, in his excitement about whatever it was this time, had forgotten how to open a door. He was struggling with it, pushing and pulling, until finally he lurched into the pool house with no gracefulness whatsoever.

When he spotted Ryan, he rushed over to him, saying all excited, "Ryan! Ryan! You have to come!"

Seth grabbed Ryan by the arm and started pulling him out of the pool house. Ryan went reluctantly.

"Seth, what –"

"I have a surprise for you!"

Ryan sighed with exasperation, so much for his quiet day of reading. Seth's surprises could be, well, very surprising sometimes. But he allowed himself to be dragged along. When they got into the kitchen, Seth let Ryan go, but continued to lead him through the house. And like an eager puppy leading his master, Seth paused and waited expectantly at each doorway or step, looking back to make sure that Ryan was still following.

At the front door, Seth stopped and practically bounced up and down. "Ryan, Ryan, come on, come on!"

Ryan had to shake his head in amusement. He was really glad that he didn't know Seth when he was two, three, four years old. Ryan could just imagine Sandy and Kirsten having to chase after their very energetic son all the time. They must have run themselves ragged. He felt sorry for them, in retrospect.

When Ryan finally caught up with Seth at the front door, he just had to grin at Seth's infectious excitement. Seth grinned back.

"Okay, Seth, what is it?"

"Ryan, my man." Seth opened the front door with a flourish. "Say hello to –" Seth led Ryan out the front door. "Our new car!"

Ryan stopped in his tracks on the front steps, his eyebrows going up and his jaw dropping in astonishment. Sitting in the driveway was the ugliest, old, huge convertible car Ryan had ever seen.

"Our car?"

"Our new car! Well, our new used car. What do you think?"

Seth bound down the steps. Jumping up and down around the car. Ryan didn't have the heart to tell him what he really thought.

"Um... Where'd you get it?"

"Guy down the street from where Alex used to live. I forget the guy's name. He was selling it..."

Ryan looked at Seth in astonishment. "You mean that ugly lime-jello-colored car with the for-sale sign? This is the same car?"

Seth smiled even wider and ran his hands along the driver's side door. "I had it painted. What do you think? They call it _tomato red_. It's great, isn't it!"

"Um, yeah, sure, good idea." Well, at least the red was better than the green. "Where'd you get the money?"

"I took some of the money that Grandpa left me. Dad said it was okay for me to use it any way I wanted."

"Ah."

Ryan approached the car and walked around it, inspecting it. He hated to tell Seth that the car was junk. He hoped Seth didn't pay more than a couple of hundred for it. And giving it a new coat of paint didn't make it any less junk. He figured that he and Seth would be lucky if the thing would even start half the time. Something caught his eye, and Ryan looked closer at the interior. He didn't even want to know what that stain was on the back seat.

Ryan looked over at Seth who was walking around the car, just beaming. When Seth looked at him, Ryan just had to smile back, Seth looked so happy about his accomplishment. Ryan knew that he'd end up being the one maintaining it, but at least they had a car now. Things were looking up.

* * *

The End.

Note: the words were _stain, rain, tomato, lime jello, shadows, lurch, _and_ danglies_.


End file.
